Page 8 RAIN November 1980 ENERGY CONT. "A Warning: E.F. Schumacher on th~ Oil . Crisis," by Vince Taylor, in MANAS, · Sept. 3, 1980, $10/yr., $.30/issue from: MANAS Publishing Company . P.O. Box32112 • • -Los Angeles, CA 90032. Schumacher buffs will fall all o~er themselves trying to find copies of this special issue of MANAS, but it's worthy of a good reading by everyone-concerned with energy today and tomorrow, especially those involved in projects like The Global 2000 Report . Taylor, from the Union of Concerned Scientists, explains in very accessible Ian- ·, guage how the author of Small Is Beautiful II could _consistently see dearly and accurately the unfolding of the energy crisis when almost everyone else was _'.befuddled and confused." He cites, for example, a passage from 1961, when most people thought the ,world was ·just entering the age of limitless growth, where Schumacher wrote: "'Fhe oil crisis will come; not when all the world's oil is exhausted, but when world oil supplie~ cease to expand.;, He pegged that date to be about • . twenty years off, roughly 1980. Today, says Taylor, we "are in exactly the situation he • . described, with exactly the consequences he predicted." The morning pa.per gives a chilling confirmation. r ' ' ' '' Building on the late Schumacher's work, Taylor shows that OPEC oil production will continually decrease as "the ~bility of the international financial system to provide real • returns on $100 to $200 billion per year of additional oil-country investments seems • questionable at best." For OPEC, "oil in the . ground seems far safer and more profitable than money in foreign banks." Taylor continues: It i~ n'ot just oil scarcity that threatens the . present system, but the expanding need for non-renewable resources of all kinds. Attempts to circumvent oil scarcity by substitution of other resources will soon run into other limits.' . .. Efforts to prop up the present system, whether.through· subsidies, tax breaks, "bailouts," or (sure - to come) rationing_of oil products, will · merely delay the day pf reckoning and raise the cost of making the inevitable transition to an economy appropriate to the limits of the earth. . Pointing to the "inescapable and unavoip- • able" reduction in expected, future, and real income of the industriaJ nations, Taylor cautions that "goyernment action cannot cancel the loss in'wealth, but only influence who is to bear it." He conclud.es with a thought so in the spiritof Schumacher it may cause -the · old man to smile even now: • The world without reflects-the world within. This.ancient truth places the oil crisi$, which is.forcing the world intone~ dir~ctions, in a fresh tight. It suggests that rather than representing a failure _of economics, the crisis reflects a change in hu- · man consciousness, a new awakening of the human spiri,t. Seen from this viewpoint, the ,unexpectedly rapid demise of the petroleum age is a cau~e not for mourning but for rejoicing. -MR Shining Examples: Model Projects Using Renewable Resourc.es, edited by Kath- . leen Courrier,..et al., 1980, 210 pp.,_$4.95 from: Center for Renewable Resources . • 1001 Connecticut Ave. N.W. Washington, DC 20036 This book tells you who is doing what, the .problems they've encountered, and where they've found their funding. Reading it will impress you with thefact that renewable energy use is·no longer a function of e_nvironmental awareness, political persuasion, • economic status or geographical location. • 1.he Boy Scouts have their projects_, poor people in•the Deep South are getting involved, and even heavy industry is starting to see the sunlight: Shining Examples would be an excellent resource for your local library. -Gail Katz • Successful Alternative Energy.Methods, by James Ritchie, 1980, 191.pp., $7.95 from: Struct:ures Publishing Co. Farmington, MI 48024 . ( If my mother'was interested in using ah al- !ernative energy source in her home, this is_ COLD WATER SUPPLY ACTIVE SOLAR SYSTEM PASSIVE SOI.AR SYSTEM A C COLD WATER SUPPLY one book I'd loan her. It's on~ of the few books I've ever read which tries to give an energy overview and succeeds ona useful level. It starts by looking at your house as it is: where you're losing energy and whe~e your potential lies for utilizing waste energy. It then suggests some good ways to get the house tight and efficient while stressing that this process should take place before you. .even begin looking at renewables. After you weatherize, you can turn to the later chapters for guidance on a range of available en:- ergy systems utilizing solar, win4, hydro ·and geothermal. • · • You eould loan the book to your father, too! -Gail.Katz Consumer Energy Atlas, ;t.980, 251 pp., single copies free from: DOE Technical Information Center P.O. Box62_ Oak Ridge, TN 37830 This document comes out of Tina Hobson's office at op( th,e office of Consumer Affairs. Tina is our ally on the inside that T~m Hayden refers to in this issue, so it's not pleasant to find myself c_ritical ofa project she sponsors. We certainly need a directory to the bureaucracy, but I'm concerned that , this is so dryly presented and so complicated at first glance that it will sit on shelves all over the country while the majority of us will continue to bother the Federal Information Center staff with our questions. That may be more the fault of our laziness than the uninspiring quality of this publication. 'The fact is, on second glance, the Atlas is a basic phone book, cross-refere·nced by staff people, subject, and state. The~e are also general numbers up front 'including a good • list .of " locators" who can help you out if the rest of the book either confuses or intimidates you. We keep demanding access to _the spr!lwl of government. The Consur1'!er En- -ergy Atlas can get u~, if not in the door, at least on the line. -CC s ACTIVE SOLAR SYSTEM from Successful Alternate Energy Methods
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